Public Opinion on Nonwhite Underrepresentation and Racial Identity Politics in Brazil

Brazil has an “African-origin” population that is proportionally more than four times larger that of African Americans in the United States, but white Brazilians mostly dominate electoral politics. How do ordinary citizens explain this phenomenon? Drawing on a largesample survey of public opinion in the state of Rio de Janeiro, this article explores perceived explanations for nonwhite underrepresentation in the political arena. It also examines attitudes toward a particular black candidate, Benedita da Silva, to discern the state of negro identity politics. Most Brazilians in Rio de Janeiro cite racial prejudice to explain nonwhite exclusion, although whites do this less than nonwhites. Indicators of a racial undercurrent in political preferences suggest the importance of allegiances based on perceived common racial origins. Class is robustly associated with voting preferences, suggesting that, in contrast to the United States, class differences among nonwhites in Brazil could attenuate the success of negro identity politics. Electoral politics in Brazil is mostly the domain of white people. Although nonwhite Brazilians, those who classified themselves as preto or pardo in the 2000 national census, make up close to 50 percent of the population, Johnson (2001) reports that between 1995 and 1999, only 15 of the 513 members of the national Chamber of Deputies, or about 3 percent, were so defined.1 This underrepresentation is dramatic, perhaps even more so for a country that was traditionally reported to value the notion of a “racial democracy” as central to its national imagination. How can we explain this political dilemma that so contradicts the idea or dream of Brazil as a true racial democracy? Researchers suggest several avenues for exploring this issue. Fiola (1990) proposes that the problem of underrepresentation in Brazil resides in the nonwhite population’s lack of resources and in the reticence of political parties to tackle racial issues. She also makes the important remark that “blacks often do not vote for black candidates” (42). Other scholars suggest weak racial subjectivity or a denial of racial discrimination as behind nonwhite underrepresentation (Castro 1993; Hanchard 1994). In their quest to address this dilemma, researchers have used a variety of approaches (e.g., Lamounier 1968; Fontaine 1985; © 2009 University of Miami Hanchard 1994; Johnson 2001); historically, however, they have given little attention to the opinion of the masses about the intersection of skin color and electoral politics, as expressed in large-sample surveys. In fact, according to prominent social scientists Carlos Hasenbalg and Nelson do Valle Silva (1999, 165), there has been an “absolute lacuna” of public opinion research on racial issues in general in Brazil.2 Although the opinions of the masses about the intersection of race and electoral politics do not provide a complete answer to the question of underrepresentation, they do add a nearly absent piece to the puzzle, and therefore can contribute to our understanding of racial identity politics in Brazil. Moreover, significant changes are afoot in contemporary Brazil. Andrews (2004, 187), for example, posits a recent “paradigm shift” in how Brazilians think about race. He and others (Htun 2004; Telles 2004; Bailey 2008) locate the impetus behind this shift in two principal spheres. First, with Fernando Henrique Cardoso’s presidency (1995–2003) and that of his successor, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (2003–present), the Brazilian state dramatically changed course and embraced race-centered discourse and race-targeted policies. Second, the Brazilian negro movement gained significant visibility and legitimacy during that same period, resulting largely from its preparation for and participation in the 2001 United Nations World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia, and Related Intolerance.3 Both developments may have heralded a new context for Brazilian racial dynamics, most visibly evidenced through the recent and ongoing institutionalization of affirmative action for nonwhites in various social spheres throughout the country (Bailey 2004, 2008; Htun 2004). At this significant juncture, then, this study approaches the question of political underrepresentation by turning to an underused data source, the public opinion survey, and focusing on two important dimensions regarding nonwhites in the electoral realm. First, it examines how Brazilians themselves explain the difficulty a nonwhite individual has in becoming a viable candidate, and second, it explores the state of racial identity politics in Brazil by exploring attitudes toward a nonwhite politician. To address these two dimensions, this study analyzes novel data from a 2000 probability survey of racial attitudes in the state of Rio de Janeiro. The survey included various questions concerning nonwhites in the political arena, ranging from why Brazilians feel that there are so few of that population in politics to the role color played in the success of Benedita da Silva, a nonwhite woman elected to several political posts. In examining these questions, this research endeavors to understand Brazilian attitudes toward nonwhite underrepresentation and how these attitudes are structured by key contextual variables, such as color, education, and beliefs about racial stratification. 70 LATIN AMERICAN POLITICS AND SOCIETY 51: 4